mmg.com.au

For most bands, what happens on tour stays on tour — but not for Shannon Noll, whose whole family was aboard the tour bus to Cobram.

Shannon was joined by his wife Rochelle, their three children, and his brothers Adam and Damian ahead of Shannon’s performance at the Bottom Pub on Sunday night.

After playing his under-18s show, Shannon recharged for the main event backstage with some sugar-free Red Bull.

Brandishing a wide smile, the charismatic singer flicked out his cigarette and took a seat at a table strewn with plates of once-hot chips.

Seated, the designer tears on his jeans were in their full frayed glory and paired well with his black leather pointed-toe cowboy boots.

‘‘I guess growing up on a farm, I always wanted to own a pair of cowboy boots,’’ he said.

‘‘I’ve got about five or six pairs now.’’

Born in Orange and having grown up in the small town of Condobolin in central New South Wales, Shannon’s laid-back country-boy character is obvious — but the singer admits he does not own a ‘big black shiny car’.

‘‘I used to have a big black ute, but I am looking forward to getting a big V8 again,’’ he said with a laugh.

Later hamming up his country sense of humour on stage, Shannon said small-town audiences always got revved up because most music tours skipped their regions.

‘‘Yeah, playing to country crowds is great, especially when I’ve grown up in the bush myself.

‘‘One of the main reasons we’re doing this show is because I like going to places where not as many acts are coming,’’ he said.

Another reason was to relax and unwind by the Murray River at Barooga, where he has been staying with his family since last Wednesday.

‘‘We’ve had a great time. We borrowed a boat from Malibu, and the kids learnt to waterski for the first time,’’ he said.

Though Shannon rose to instant fame after finishing runner-up in the first series of television show Australian Idol in 2003, the singer said he started out more modestly, playing at B&S balls, football presentations, pubs and weddings.

His advice to country-dwelling musicians is ‘‘to play as much as you can, and don’t play the same places too much, try new places all the time.’’

In his first appearance at Cobram, Shannon played two shows on Sunday, performing a noon underage show to 300 people in the Bottom Pub function room before the evening gig out in the beer garden.

After some initial worry about the speakers, which had gone soggy in the rain, The Noll Brothers, Lash 78, Sweet As Taylor and Tayler Hocking started up the show as 600 people, many of them locals, rocked up.

Shannon hit the stage about 8pm, opening his set with Shine and My Place In The Line, much to the delight of many fist-pumping middle-aged women near the front of the stage. Bantering and joking with the crowd, Shannon was well received and used the platform to plug The Noll Brothers’ album.

‘‘I was about five years old when they started playing,’’ he said.

‘‘Buy their album, it’s definitely the best one going around.’’

He also thanked Bottom Pub publican Ryan Dopper, who made a surprise impromptu performance at the end of the night.

Mr Dopper said the night had a great vibe and revellers ‘‘thoroughly enjoyed themselves.’’

‘‘Everyone was in a good mood,’’ he said.

‘‘Shannon is an all-round nice guy. He took time to speak to the locals, pose for photos and hang around after the show.’’